By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe usual league leaders stepped up again on Wednesday and Thursday, with the NFL giving CBS the lion’s share of prime-time viewers and Fox’s Empire pacing that network’s 7 to 10 p.m. sweep.

Thursday Night Football averaged 247,217 D-FW viewers on CBS and tacked on another 72,711 for the NFL Network’s simulcast. TNF also topped all Thursday night programming in advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, with 105,834 on CBS and another 38,485 on NFL Net.

The closest competing attraction, ABC’s 7 p.m. episode of the resilient Grey’s Anatomy, drew 196,320 total viewers and 70,556 in the 18-to-49-year-old realm.

Fox’s 8 p.m. episode of the new Pitch hung in there, particularly with 18-to-49-year-olds. It ran second from 8 to 9 p.m. in that key measurement with 67,349 viewers.

On Wednesday night, Empire again flexed with 428,995 total viewers and 218,083 in the 18-to-49 demographic. No other program came close. Fox also won at 7 and 9 p.m. in both ratings measurements with Lethal Weapon (recently picked up for a full season) and the local news.

ABC’s 9 p.m. episode of the new Designated Survivor showed signs of fatigue, running last at that hour in total viewers among the Big Four broadcast networks and beating only CBS’ competing Code Black in the 18-to-49 age range.

Here are the Wednesday and Thursday local news derby results.

Wednesday -- Let’s blast the trumpets for NBC5, which notched an exceedingly rare double grand slam by sweeping the 6 a.m. and 5, 6 and 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). Fox4 is the only other station in any position to do this. But as the November “sweeps” ratings period nears, the local Peacock clearly is the station with the most momentum.

Thursday -- NBC5 had another productive day, sweeping a downsized three-way race at 10 p.m. while also running the table at 6 p.m.

Fox4 reclaimed the top spot at 6 a.m. in both ratings measurements. At 5 p.m., NBC5 had the most total viewers and tied CBS11 for first place with 25-to-54-year-olds.